Texas Tech Athletics
Rice
Lady Raiders Fall Short to Rice 5-2
February 15, 2009 | Women's Tennis
Feb. 15, 2009
LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech women's tennis squad suffered a tough 5-2 loss to Rice on Sunday at the McLeod Tennis Center even as Samantha van der Drift and Kelsy Garland won single matches.
Rice (8-2) started the day off strong taking the doubles point, sweeping the Lady Raiders (2-4) in all three matches. The Owls took the first match winning the third doubles spot as Alex Rasch and Rebecca Lin defeated Tech's duo of Simone Templeton and Natalie Leitch, 8-1.
Jessica Jackson and Varsha Shiva-Shankar clinched the doubles point with a win in the No. 2 spot over Stefanie Peana and Kerryn Potgieter, 8-4.
The final match went down to the wire going into a tie-breaker as Julie Chao and Ana Guzman squeezed by Tech's No. 1 duo of van der Drift and Garland, 8-7 (6).
The Owls continued its dominant play in the singles matches as they took the first two singles matches. Jackson knocked off No. 3 Leitch 6-1, 6-4, and Rasch defeated Potgieter 6-3, 6-4, at the No 6 spot.
The No. 5 match was back and forth as it went to three sets. Tech's Templeton won the second set to send the match into a third but Shiva-Shankar won the third set beating Templeton 6-1, 0-6, 6-0.
The Owls clinched the dual match victory taking the third singles point and fourth point overall. Tech fell short again in a tough three-set battle in the No. 4 match as Rice's Lin edged out Peana 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
The Lady Raiders didn't give up and continued to play hard in its final two matches of the day. Tech's determination was apparent as No. 1 van der Drift knocked off Chao, bringing the Lady Raiders their first victory of the day. It was a close battle as the match went to a super tie-breaker with van der Drift taking out Chao 6-3, 5-7, 10-3.
The final match of the day saw No. 2 Garland grinded out a win over Guzman 6-4, 7-6(3).
The Lady Raiders will be back in action as they host Midwestern State Thurs., Feb. 26, at 10 a.m., and TCU at 6 p.m.
Doubles:
1. Chao/Guzman (RU) def. Sam van der Drift/Kelsy Garland (TTU) 8-7 (6) 2. Jackson/Shiva-Shankar (RU) def. Peana/Potgieter 8-4 3. Rasch/Lin (RU) def. Templeton/Leitch (TTU) 8-1
Singles:
1. Sam van der Drift (TTU) def. Julie Chao (RU) 6-3, 5-7, 10-3 2. Kelsy Garland (TTU) def. Ana Guzman (RU) 6-4, 7-6(6-3) 3. Jessica Jackson (RU) def. Natalie Leitch (TTU) 6-1, 6-4 4. Rebecca Lin (RU) def. Stefanie Peana (TTU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 5. Varsha Shiva-Shankar (RU) def. Simone Templeton (TTU) 6-1, 0-6, 6-0 6. Alex Rasch (RU) def. Kerryn Potgieter (TTU) 6-3, 6-4
Players Mentioned
